Description
Book SynopsisThis closing volume of the ten-volume New Edinburgh History of Scotland analyses in detail the transformation of Scotland from the Victorian period-dominated by the Liberal party, the Presbyterian chruches, the British empire and hearvy industry - to contemporary times in which the industrial economy, the empire and the dominance of presbyterianism are things of the past.
Like the period it describes, this book has politics at its heart. It deals with the rise of the Labour party since the 1880s; the success of the Conservative party in the 1950s and its subsequent decline; the development of nationalism; the long and complex process leading to the creation of the Scottish parliament in 1998/9; and the 2007 Scottish parliamentary election. Ewen Cameron sets Scottish Experience alongside the irish, Welsh and European, and considers British dimensions of historical changes - involvement in two world wars, imperial growth and decline - from a Scottish perspective.
Cameron devotes particular attention to the period of enormous change since 1945. Considerable change has taken place within the Anglo-Scottish Union and the volume seeks to explain why this political settlement survived the twentieth century. Underlying the history is the evolution and growth of national self-confidence and identity which fundamentally affected Scotland''s destiny in the last century. the book ends with a consideration of how such forces may continue to transform it in this one.
Trade ReviewHe [Cameron] is a marvellous and masterly guide. This book is one of the most factually rich accounts of Scotland's most recent history one could hope for, and is a valuable addition to existing work in this area... Dr. Cameron's mastery of the literature is impressive and the book's bibliography is itself a most useful source for scholars of this period... The rich factual content of this work will, however, ensure its longevity on our bookshelves. Good scholarship never goes out of fashion. -- Catriona MacDonald Scottish Review of Books Cameron's book will be an essential reading for anyone wishing to seriously engage with late modern Scottish history. It will feature on all reading lists and I can already see the pencil defacement of the book by undergraduates, which is in itself a tribute to the author, though a nuisance to other readers. -- Bill Knox, University of St Andrews Contemporary British History This is a dense political study, but the best of its kind, with enough social history to explicate the changes underway. The research is superb, and the full, up-to-date bibliography alone makes this book worth the price. Essential. -- J. J. Butt, James Madison University Choice Cameron is a skilled story-teller, able to weave simultaneous strands of history together! An absorbing and insightful history of modern Scottish politics. -- Patricia Bowley, University of Guelph International Review of Scottish Studies He [Cameron] is a marvellous and masterly guide. This book is one of the most factually rich accounts of Scotland's most recent history one could hope for, and is a valuable addition to existing work in this area... Dr. Cameron's mastery of the literature is impressive and the book's bibliography is itself a most useful source for scholars of this period... The rich factual content of this work will, however, ensure its longevity on our bookshelves. Good scholarship never goes out of fashion. Cameron's book will be an essential reading for anyone wishing to seriously engage with late modern Scottish history. It will feature on all reading lists and I can already see the pencil defacement of the book by undergraduates, which is in itself a tribute to the author, though a nuisance to other readers. This is a dense political study, but the best of its kind, with enough social history to explicate the changes underway. The research is superb, and the full, up-to-date bibliography alone makes this book worth the price. Essential. Cameron is a skilled story-teller, able to weave simultaneous strands of history together! An absorbing and insightful history of modern Scottish politics.
Table of ContentsPart One; Chapter 1, Progress and Poverty: Scottish Society, 1880 to 1914; Chapter 2, Enterprise and Initiative: The Scottish Economy, 1880 to 1939; Chapter 3, 'An Exuberant Verbosity': Scottish Politics in the 1880s; Chapter 4, 'Volcanic Upheavals': Scottish Politics Before the Great War; Chapter 5, 'Ower the Hill': Scotland and the Great War; Chapter 6, Poverty without progress? Scottish Society in the Inter-war Period; Chapter 7, 'Miracles and Politics Don't Mix': Political Change in the Inter-war Period; Chapter 8, Total War, 1939 to 1945; Part Two; Chapter 9, The Social Revolution: Scottish Society since 1945; Chapter 10, The End of Industrial Scotland: The Economy since 1945; Chapter 11, Unionist Scotland: Politics, 1945 to 1970; Chapter 12, The 1970s: A Decade of Scottish Politics; Chapter 13, Mothering Devolution: Scottish Politics, 1979 to 1997;Chapter 14, New Labour, New Scotland, New Parliament
